Prayers for those of you in Houston

[sweetpee_1993]

Well I hear there is good news in SE Texas! I understand the flood waters have receded in many places. Is that correct? Hopefully, people in flooded areas will be able to start getting into their homes and businesses and start cleaning up and drying out. MUN

I still can't drive into the neighborhood. The water is down some but not a lot. We still can't drive the interstate to get to our house or where we live in Seabrook. Probably won't be able to for a while. The gas shortage is another issue. If we could drive straight through like normal it'd be no problem. But driving hundreds of additional miles to get around the flooding is a problem. We'd run out of gas and have no ability to get more. It's incredibly frustrating.

 

[FigmentSpark]

@laceltris3, I'm so glad you're okay. I've never seen anything like this. It's amazing. Yay for a trip to look forward to.




My tenant has to move out of our house. I won't have that rent income to cover that house payment. So we have rent where we live, rent for hubby's apartment where he works, and a house payment. It's going to be tough. We're one of the few with flood insurance but they always fight to pay as little as possible. I expect half or more will be paid by us and that's if we do the work ourselves. I hate dealing with insurance adjusters. I cannot even begin to tell you how much.

So I'm paid in full for 6 nights at OKW (with hubby for our anniversary) followed by 3 nights at BLT + a 4 night Dream cruise with friends in just a few weeks. I do a cruise with friends every September. Our anniversary is Sept 18 so we try to do something for that, too. Usually since I'm already down in Florida we work something on one end of my trip. Hubby says I should still do the cruise with my friends. But, even the seemingly small amount of money for food while at BLT...I just can't even think that's the thing to do. I don't see enjoying myself or being good company at all. I'm very torn. Plus, I'll be so worried with all the things I should be doing working at the house. How can I ditch my anniversary trip with the hubby and be okay doing my girls trip with my friends??? That feels so messed up. I have so many crazy mixed emotions on all of it. I don't know what to do.

Also paid in full, flights, etc on a Royal cruise with a couple friends in October. Same thing. I don't feel right going off to have fun with friends while leaving the family behind working on our house. None of the money is recoverable, I know. I feel so confused and awful. In my heart I don't even want to go anymore. I just want to be with my family getting all the things done. If I go I'll probably spend the time feeling guilty wishing I hadn't.

I totally understand how you're feeling. You had plans and now this huge 'wrench'. But you have to think long term. The house and the problems will still be there in Oct and Nov and Dec. I know it's a financial issue for you, but you knew you were losing your tenant in Nov, anyway. Weren't you planning on moving into the house? You now have the chance to do the things you want for your family.

Insurance may or may not be fair, but I tend to agree with PP - they are going to be very busy and will want to get this over with, not fight with you. I think (hope) you'll be happily surprised.

As for your cruises, if you can't recover the funds, take the vacations. There's no point being at home and wondering what you could be doing, when you could be relaxing and rejuvenating for the work you'll have ahead of you. It's not going anywhere, so get your emotional and physical strength up to deal with it. Don't take the vacations and sit and worry. Enjoy the time, so you can be refreshed and with a calm mind and plan to tackle this work.

 

[belac]

I can only offer one bit of advice to those in this horrible mess of re-building as we did with Sandy. I know there is a cost associated with this, but it can save you time and effort. Most Insurances, retained local licensed professional engineers to assess the claims after Sandy. There were a lot of scams going on here and it was crazy on both sides.
My DH's friend was one of these engineer's retained by insurance companies. My DH was one of the engineers working with homeowners to prepare reports on the damage they incurred, so most of the time when a proper and well detailed report was issued by an engineer (licensed PE in the State) to the insurance companies & their engineers it held quite a bit of weight and accounts were settled fairly quickly. If it were a contractor's "home inspection" issued to insurance, it would be looked over a few times and take more time to assess. DH's friend would almost always dispute some or most of the claims by homeowner and contractor.
Like I said there was a lot of fraud going on and that slows everybody down. I know of one call DH got where they claimed to have foundation damage, only ones in their neighborhood, not flooded, totally on high ground and DH refused to take their business. He actually wanted to report them.
One of his reports was denied at first and Insurance only had some paper pusher on their end denying claims. No background whatsoever. That client prevailed so it is on both sides.
I would say get a good Engineer's Report by TX licensed Structural Engineer. BTW DH and his friend are not Licensed in TX.

edited to add: check TX professional licenses board to get a reputable engineer.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

So we just got back from seeing our house. We had 6". Had to walk in. Streets still flooded. They're still rescuing people with boats less than 2 miles from our house.

Yes, was planning to move back into the house in the middle of November. Counted on that rent income until then. I think we got this, tho. Still have to sit down & crunch numbers but I think we might can work it out somehow.

This morning hubby was discussing the travel with me more. The company he works for is giving them full 40s without using PTO for last week & this week. He technically has the time but with the projectvthis much further behind can't get away so soon. He had me look for flights down. (Originally we were going to drive then he'd drive back alone when I joined the girls for our trip.) Anywhoo, found a flight down for $60. WOW! Grabbed it. So, yes, I'm going and friends are all talking me up on everything.

This is the 4th time hubby & I have spent an anniversary cleaning up horrible-cane messes. Perils of getting married in September, I suppose. Next year is our 25th. We'll have to make it extra awesome. Hmmmm....3 weeks in Ireland if hubby can bank his week from this year???? Something to look forward to.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Just an FYI about the gas panic. Hubby has family that works in Texas City refineries. He knows for sure at least 3 have come back up and increased production to maximum output. Also, as we came across the big bridges headed into Port Arthur we saw Valero is starting up. Across the street is the largest refinery currently in the US. Motiva. They are starting up. Don't panic about the gasoline. It's not a shortage.

 

[FigmentSpark]

So we just got back from seeing our house. We had 6". Had to walk in. Streets still flooded. They're still rescuing people with boats less than 2 miles from our house.

Yes, was planning to move back into the house in the middle of November. Counted on that rent income until then. I think we got this, tho. Still have to sit down & crunch numbers but I think we might can work it out somehow.

This morning hubby was discussing the travel with me more. The company he works for is giving them full 40s without using PTO for last week & this week. He technically has the time but with the projectvthis much further behind can't get away so soon. He had me look for flights down. (Originally we were going to drive then he'd drive back alone when I joined the girls for our trip.) Anywhoo, found a flight down for $60. WOW! Grabbed it. So, yes, I'm going and friends are all talking me up on everything.

This is the 4th time hubby & I have spent an anniversary cleaning up horrible-cane messes. Perils of getting married in September, I suppose. Next year is our 25th. We'll have to make it extra awesome. Hmmmm....3 weeks in Ireland if hubby can bank his week from this year???? Something to look forward to.

I'm glad to hear you're feeling a little better. Your DH works for a good company, for sure. That's a blessing.

 

[belac]

Happy to hear sweetpee! Crossing fingers he can bank pto for next year.

 

[IRLdisneyprincess]

I'm located in the Clear Lake/Webster area and we saw quite a bit of flooding. I live in an apartment and it was incredibly difficult for me to survey the height of the water since I am located in the very back of the complex. I attempted to walk out to the car and at one point I almost had water to my waist... and in the streets it was higher than that..

That being said, the area around my neighbor seemed to be just fine. We never lost power and got incredibly lucky. Our local stores shut down and just reopened within the past few days, but with shortened hours since we still have a curfew in effect. There are no longer lines to get into the store, but there are still limits on bread, milk and eggs as it is allotted only one of each per household. Once again, we were lucky in the sense that we knew Harvey was coming and myself, my boyfriend, and our roommates went and got water and supplies before the grocery stores shut down.

I work at a convenience store along with my boyfriend and one of our roommates. We sold out of all of our water fairly quickly. Our local CVS, Walgreens, Kroger and Walmart sold out as well. It was crazy to see all those shelves so bare. People were so unprepared for all of this. It was madness in the stores. I was happy when they started limiting product because I saw people filling their baskets with twenty cartons of eggs. Really?! In addition to that and deliveries being cancelled, it's no wonder why the stores ran out of everything!

Like I mentioned before, I couldn't go to work and neither could me and my roommates. We couldn't leave and go anywhere due to the flooding. It was annoying because we work at a gas station that is open 24/7. They were STILL trying to get us to come to work. I was incredibly angry with their decision to stay open. I'm a night shifter and that's when the weather would get really awful. For a few days it cleared up a bit during the day and that's when management would try to insist that we come in. Well, of course it has died down! That's what hurricanes do, then they start back up again and it starts to flood and the water builds up. Our assistant manager got trapped at work several times because when he would go to work it would be clear, only for it to start raining and flooding again once he got there. It was an incredibly annoying situation. I can't go to wok during a level 4 hurricane and no one should be expected to.

I'm proud at how Houston is working together to help each other. I'm in awe at how incredibly lucky myself and my family got. We weren't affected, but so many others were. People lost their pets, homes, their lives... it really puts things into perspective.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm located in the Clear Lake/Webster area and we saw quite a bit of flooding. I live in an apartment and it was incredibly difficult for me to survey the height of the water since I am located in the very back of the complex. I attempted to walk out to the car and at one point I almost had water to my waist... and in the streets it was higher than that..

That being said, the area around my neighbor seemed to be just fine. We never lost power and got incredibly lucky. Our local stores shut down and just reopened within the past few days, but with shortened hours since we still have a curfew in effect. There are no longer lines to get into the store, but there are still limits on bread, milk and eggs as it is allotted only one of each per household. Once again, we were lucky in the sense that we knew Harvey was coming and myself, my boyfriend, and our roommates went and got water and supplies before the grocery stores shut down.

I work at a convenience store along with my boyfriend and one of our roommates. We sold out of all of our water fairly quickly. Our local CVS, Walgreens, Kroger and Walmart sold out as well. It was crazy to see all those shelves so bare. People were so unprepared for all of this. It was madness in the stores. I was happy when they started limiting product because I saw people filling their baskets with twenty cartons of eggs. Really?! In addition to that and deliveries being cancelled, it's no wonder why the stores ran out of everything!

Like I mentioned before, I couldn't go to work and neither could me and my roommates. We couldn't leave and go anywhere due to the flooding. It was annoying because we work at a gas station that is open 24/7. They were STILL trying to get us to come to work. I was incredibly angry with their decision to stay open. I'm a night shifter and that's when the weather would get really awful. For a few days it cleared up a bit during the day and that's when management would try to insist that we come in. Well, of course it has died down! That's what hurricanes do, then they start back up again and it starts to flood and the water builds up. Our assistant manager got trapped at work several times because when he would go to work it would be clear, only for it to start raining and flooding again once he got there. It was an incredibly annoying situation. I can't go to wok during a level 4 hurricane and no one should be expected to.

I'm proud at how Houston is working together to help each other. I'm in awe at how incredibly lucky myself and my family got. We weren't affected, but so many others were. People lost their pets, homes, their lives... it really puts things into perspective.

Neighbor! We live in Towers on 146. Where do you work? I'll come say hello sometime!

 

[laceltris3]

This is the 4th time hubby & I have spent an anniversary cleaning up horrible-cane messes. Perils of getting married in September, I suppose. Next year is our 25th. We'll have to make it extra awesome. Hmmmm....3 weeks in Ireland if hubby can bank his week from this year???? Something to look forward to.

We have a lot in common, we have a family trip for Ireland for June. I have already booked the airfare, since I had miles to cover 4 out of the 5 of us, And it's extended family, for my parents 50th, so I think we will still go.

 

[dcassetta]

Just an FYI about the gas panic. Hubby has family that works in Texas City refineries. He knows for sure at least 3 have come back up and increased production to maximum output. Also, as we came across the big bridges headed into Port Arthur we saw Valero is starting up. Across the street is the largest refinery currently in the US. Motiva. They are starting up. Don't panic about the gasoline. It's not a shortage.

I think this is one of the perils of social media. A couple of people got nervous about gas and that turned into a panic. When I was driving home from work last night, here in the DFW area, every gas station I passed was out of gas. This is despite all of the news stations, and the radio shows, communicating that there was no gas shortage and the people didn't need to be concerned. So, now there really is an issue, and they're having to really coordinate where the gas tanker trucks go to refill the stations tanks.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We have a lot in common, we have a family trip for Ireland for June. I have already booked the airfare, since I had miles to cover 4 out of the 5 of us, And it's extended family, for my parents 50th, so I think we will still go.

I'd love to sit down and compare notes!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Perspective check. My oldest son (he's 21) got a call from one of his best friend's father this morning. His friend went back into their flooded home near Dickinson to get his sister. He got caught under some floating furniture & drown. Seriously. I cannot even fathom what those parents and that family are going through. They lost everything including their son. He was a sweet kid. My son is stunned & devastated. We all are. But, you know, I will not gripe about my flooded house or financial stress. I'd give it all back in a heartbeat. I want nothing. I have my family safe & sound. That's everything. The rest is pretty inconsequential.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Very sad, Sweetpee. I hope the sister was at least okay. She'll probably feel guilty all her life, now, even though none of it was her fault.

This is certainly a time to count your blessings, for sure.

 

[soniam]

Fellow Texan, Austinite, sending good vibes for everyone down there It's horrible now, but I know a lot of the emotions and suffering are just starting. Keep strong. Remember why you live near the water, even though she's a cruel mistress. Those of us who are landlocked never fully appreciate it like you guys do. We are thankful my BIL and nephew are doing fine in Houston. Their old house flooded, but there current one is fine. Their neighborhood is flooded here and there of course, just like anytime it rains in Houston. Hoping it stays dry down there for the next month or so.

 

[Pens Fan]

So, so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, Sweetpee. Most of us can only imagine what the victims of this terrible storm are going through. Thoughts and prayers go out to you, and give your family a big hug from your Disboards friends. I'm so glad you are safe and together.

 

[IRLdisneyprincess]

Neighbor! We live in Towers on 146. Where do you work? I'll come say hello sometime!

I'll PM you! It truly is a small world